Often times in our journey whether it is the journey of fitness, journey of career or just overall journey of LIFE we count ourselves out before we even begin. We begin to second guess ourselves prior to even accomplishing that goal, dream, task or vision. We begin to create this assumption of what others may think or the assumption that we will not be great, we will not succeed. However, when we truly tap into our self worth, self confidence our inner strength we begin to walk with Boldness in everything we do. We begin to walk with our heads held high realizing that no matter what may come of any situation that we have the courage and the strength knowing that we at least SHOWED UP, we at least believed in ourselves to do the impossible, we are doing the impossible, knowing that despite it all we are being who we are created to be and that is being a bold, powerful, authentic self. So despite what others may think or say continue to walk in boldness, continue to show up each and everyday in your beautiful authentic self. Why? Because when we decided to walk in that manner we become bolder, we do the impossible, we tap into our inner self, we tap into our GREATNESS, we begin to show our true STRENGTH in SELF.

So I often speak about this but in our fitness journey we are often taunted with our past or with the notion of what we can not do. However, we never really take the time to embrace the moment that we are in, the accomplishments we have made thus far. We are our biggest critics and we often put so much pressure on ourselves that instead of it encouraging ourselves we provide discouragement. We often times let social media take control over our lives that we begin comparing. We start looking at what others are doing and think we are less than because of what we haven’t accomplished. We begin to categorized ourselves based off of not only fitness accomplishments but our overall life accomplishments. The one thing that we fail to realize as we are doing this that someone else is looking at us the same way. They are looking at our accomplishments wishing they were where we are. The cycle just continues on and on and on. But we must stop and really look at ourselves. Stop and focus on where we are, what we have accomplished thus far.

As I glance at this photo that was taken a year ago I begin to really be amazed at the sky and how beautiful it is. I also begin to really focus on the water and how peaceful it seems. I said to myself, “Wow this is simply beautiful”; just caught in the present moment of it’s beauty. So I really begin to equate this to our lives and thought to myself if I would just take a moment each day before I get started with my day and really embrace ME, LOVE ME and really begin to give compliments to myself. Do you know how motivating, invigorating and encouraging that would feel? Do you think I would have a positive outlook on what I have to do for that day? Of course I would, what people often fail to realize is that this healthy journey and lifestyle is not all about just how many workouts can you do; this journey is about mentally how do you feel about yourself. Do you tear yourself down each and everyday? Do you love yourself for who you are on THIS day?

So take time out each day and really sit back and Embrace the Present YOU! Be grateful, thankful and Love the NEW YOU.

Love the changes your body is going through even if it is not where it needs to be.

Love who you have become both inner and outer.

Love the fact that you care so much about your health and your body that you chose to change your life.

Love the downfalls that you have gone through as it has only made you stronger.

Love and Embrace the flaws, the things that you hope to change

Love the inner strength you have to get up each and everyday and face this thing called LIFE

So I ask you to really LOVE YOURSELF UNCONDITIONALLY but in order to do that you must first Embrace the Present YOU!

So often when we think about meditation we think about breath and how it can help our emotional health. But not only can meditation improve our emotional health but also our physical health as well.

What happens when we have emotions or we are going through stress?

We typically hold our emotions in our bellies. Often times instead of feeling our emotions we will store them away with the hopes that the emotions will go away. But in actuality what is happening when we leave our emotions in our bellies we are causing discomfort, stress and actually increasing the chances of unhealthiness.

Meditation is designed to dive into the inner self, releasing tension and stress. It is designed to really tap into YOU. The breath in meditation it helps calm and relax our bodies which help decrease stress in our lives.

When we allow ourselves to really tap into our inner self we then can begin to release tension, stress, frustration, disappointment or whatever emotions we may have inside. Meditation not only allows us to release the emotional stress but also help in coping with it whenever it occurs again.

So how does Meditation improve our physical health?

Practicing meditation allow us to tap into our inner self through breath. It allows us to let go of the emotional stress that can cause decreases physical health. In addition, it provides an avenue and alternative in coping with stress.

Tap into your inner self, release that tension and stress you have been holding on and TRY MEDITATION.

I was that person a long time ago where I developed the goal of exercising so that I could lose weight I wanted to be a certain size, I wanted to look a certain way but then exercise became more to me than that. I had to determine some key things in order to stick with exercise, to stay exercising. I had to look at exercise in a different way in order to exercise 4 success. I had to:

Determine “MY WHY”

When you find your WHY it helps keep you motivated, it helps keep you determined and focused. Why is that? because when I suffered an injury or when life just happened I had to go back and figure out why was I exercising, why did I want to lose weight, why did I want to complete a marathon. Then I realized that I was doing all of this because I wanted to feel better, I wanted to be healthy, I wanted to be able to enjoy life with my kids. So once I realized my WHY the days that I wasn’t motivated, the days I didn’t want to do the exercise I remembered my WHY. I remembered why I was doing all the things that I was doing. So you figure out your Why….What’s next?

Create a PLAN

I am constantly telling my clients and patients that without visual, written things we don’t see it. Out of sight, out of mind. When we take time out to truly write out our goals and plan then we are more apt to fulfill those things. So plan out what you are wanting to accomplish, how will you accomplish it, what will it look like, what is your schedule like.

Start from where you ARE

The biggest problem when tend to make is we look at what others are doing and we try to start where they are. We start too fast and we fail and then we give up. If you have never ran a day in your life then start by walking consistently and then build up from there. We can’t run before we walk, we can’t walk before we crawl. That’s just saying that you will get there but you must first start from where you are.

Take Small Steps

In starting from where you are realize that in order to get to that goal, dream or vision you must take small steps. Change doesn’t occur overnight, we didn’t get the way we are overnight it took time. So realize that this journey will take time it will not happen overnight. You must take small steps. It’s the small steps that lead to the Big Change. It’s not the big leaps that we make in our life that makes the difference it’s the small minute changes and steps that we make in our lives that lead to the big difference, big change.

Develop a Routine and a HABIT

So it’s great to create a plan but what is a plan if you don’t act on it or you don’t create that habitual routine. Habits are developed from doing a consistent routine. Things become habitual when we are constantly doing the same things in a certain routine or form. So in order to incorporate exercise into your daily activity you must create a routine that includes exercise in it.

Learn that It’s Not a DESTINATION its a JOURNEY

You must understand that living a healthy lifestyle in particularly exercising is not a destination its a journey. When we think about destination and we are trying to get to a destination. We drive from point A to point B and we get to our destination. Well once we are at our destination we either stay there for a little while or we go and then come back to our original point. With healthy lifestyle and exercising we have to realize that this is not just about getting to a destination we are striving to continue this lifelong journey. This journey of a healthy lifestyle, journey of being free from disease, journey of wanting to enjoy the one life we have without fear of not being able to enjoy it.

So ask me why do I exercise?

I exercise 4 success

I exercise because I am on this lifelong journey of healthy living

I exercise because I feel free to be

I exercise because I feel great after I exercise

I exercise so that I can be the best mother that I can be for my girls

I truly have learned what it means to Start Over…To begin again. I remember thinking awhile back that it was so hard to start over, so hard to begin again. I have realized that it’s okay to begin again. We actually begin again each day we wake up. Each day we start a brand new day it is our opportunity to begin again. Often times we want to seclude ourselves to what occurred yesterday, last week, last month or even last year. I have learned that in order to grow to move forward in life we have to begin again. We have to learn how to start over.

Last year alone I have learned how to raise two girls on my own, start a new job, restart a training/running plan. I realized on my run the other day that I am stronger, wiser, brighter, felt brand new. It was all because I decided that it was time to change up how I was doing things, take time out to gain knowledge on areas that I needed to work on, it was time to start over again, to start fresh. I took time off away from personal social media, from scrolling and seeing what everyone else was doing in the world. I needed to focus on me, focus on the life that I want to create. Often times to get out of the rut that we feel like we are in we have to start fresh, we have to begin again. I have constantly said that sometimes you have to have meltdowns to have your breakthrough. So don’t sit in the past, don’t dwell in what happened years ago, don’t dwell in what you could have done, what you should have done, what you did in the past; start fresh today, begin again today!!!

Have you ever heard yourself say this, “I just don’t have time” when you are trying to create a workout plan or trying to train for a race or simple start to engage in fitness? If not then, WOW, that’s awesome. I know that I have said this plenty of times.

So how do I do it?

How do I workout, take care of two girls, work a full time job and take care of other family duties? I plan, I take time to sit down and plan out my workouts, my weekly schedules, my family schedules. I am not claiming to have the best time management skills or the best regime. I include my family into my fitness. When you show your little ones, older ones the importance of taking care of themselves you are instilling a healthy lifestyle mindset that will be a huge benefit as they get older.

Why schedule time to workout?

I was definitely the one who said you know what, “I just don’t have the time, I am neglecting my family time with my girls, it is just wrong for me to take time out for me.” Well if you are thinking the same way I was thinking then the answer is NOit is not wrong, NO you are not neglecting your family and YES you do have time.

Start from where you are?

Often times we look at working out as it has to look a certain way. We have to work out at least 5 days a week for a hour in order to say we have done something. Well what if you only have 20 minutes into your day? Plan something that will accommodate your schedule. If you only have 15 minutes then plan a killer interval workout that accommodates. It is the small steps that we take that creates the big change. Start small and where you are and build from there.

So why is it so important?

I will speak on a mother, woman perspective; as mothers we always spend so much time nurturing others, taking care of others, making sure that other people (family, friends, etc..) have what they need. However, we never take the time out for ourselves. We never engage in self-nurturing. Now do we have to workout in order to engage in self-nurturing? No, but that stress that you may be dealing with or that feeling of low self-esteem, low self-confidence that you may be experiencing, taking time out to workout, to engage in some form of fitness will help with building your self esteem, self confidence and that stress we deal with each and every day.

So stop telling yourself that you just don’t have time. Start telling yourself that you need to make time. Take time for YOU. Take time to help build yourself up both inside and outside. In order to be that strong person in your family you have to take care of yourself first. Yes you have to be a little selfish so that you can be that person you need to be for your family. So stop what you are doing and Start making time for YOU. I read a great saying the other day, “Your body is a temple, stop treating it like a graveyard”

How many times have you said that you couldn’t do something or that you were not good enough to do it? This happen to me the other day when I was at Crossfit and getting ready to do another workout. I knew what the weight was going to be prior to doing workout but kept second guessing myself of it I could pull it off. If I could lift that amount of weight. See we do this to ourselves a lot and don’t even realize it we tell ourselves in our head that you know you can’t do that lift or you know you can’t complete that race in that amount of time. We begin to compare ourselves to others performance and to others abilities. And never think about what they did to get there or how hard they had to work in order to get to where they are. See one thing that I have learned in both my fitness experience and also in my life is that You can do anything that you put your mind to but first you must believe that you can do it. Then you have to make preparations to complete that goal. Now will you have to work harder than the other person? Maybe. Will you have to think outside the box in order to accomplish that goal and complete those action steps? Maybe. Will you have to plan out and prepare more in detailed than the other person? Maybe. So just because you may have to approach that goal different than someone else doesn’t mean that you can’t accomplish it just means that you have to think outside the box, prepare and then act. So stop selling yourself of goals that you want to achieve because you feel like you are not good enough to achieve. Start believing in yourself, start saying YES I CAN, YES I WILL. Start having the faith that with GOD all things all possible if we only believe. So who is with me? Who’s ready to accomplish those goals that seem so scary? Who is tired of selling themselves short? I know I am…..So join in with me and let’s show the world who we are and who we are capable of becoming…Let’s GO!!!

It’s crazy as I was having this conversation today with my daughter about what is beautiful to them? What does it mean to be beautiful? She was talking about some girls who were looking at her a certain way and she felt like they were talking about her. So I said did they say anything bad to you? She said No. So I said well how did you know they were talking bad about you? She said, “I don’t know?” So I thing began to say to her they may have been admiring you, saying how beautiful you are, or saying wow would love to hang out with that girl. As a society we have created this image of what everyone should look like. What beautiful is and what it looks like. We have done the same thing with being Fit. We have created this image of what FIT looks like. But really what does it mean to look fit? Everyone has this common image in their head of what being FIT looks like. We compare ourselves to models and other images that social media has placed on us of what being FIT should look like.

I use to have the same image in my head of if I lose at least 20 more lbs then I will finally be FIT or look FIT. As I continued to work out and continued to fluctuate in weight I realized that I was chasing a destination an image and not a way of living.

When I began this fitness journey I expected to look a certain way but as I continued to follow along with the journey I realized that fitness is not just physical. Fitness is a way of living, its creating a lifestyle that is healthy both physically, mentally, spiritually, emotionally. When I began cross training more and really lifting weights I noticed my body was changing. I wasn’t skinny like I use to be, I was becoming as they would say “thick.” In my head I kept saying, “Fe you need to lose weight, you need to be in this size” Then I realized as I was putting my clothes on one day that my pants size was actually smaller than the size I was in before. I realize, “Fe you are healthy, you are strong now.” That is when it dawned on me that FIT doesn’t mean you are suppose to be certain size, it means that you are free of disease, you are healthy in both mind, body and spirit. I also began to realize the more that I focused on creating a healthy lifestyle for myself and my girls the more I became FIT.

Often times we get in the hustle and bustle of life and oddly enough my meditation today was all about stretching. At first I see these words and naturally think of stretching when you are trying to release a tight muscle or stretching because you don’t want to have any cramps or tightness in your body.

But this is a different type of stretching but holds the same meaning. When we stretch our bodies or a muscle we are stretching to help release tension and we are holding that pose for an extending period of time. Often times after holding a stretch we feel a sense of relief, we feel like a new person, simply a new feeling.

Well the kind of stretching I am referring to is different. This type of stretching deals with the moments in our lives. As a society we have this on the go type feeling where we are always at a need to move, to go. But what if we stop for one moment and just stretched out the present moment, we live in the present state as long as we possibly can.

What would happen?

I’ll tell you what would happen we would experience things like no other, we would notice the beauty in that moment, it will allow us to cherish that moment. We would find peace and a sense of relief within that moment.

Why?

Because we are stretching out that moment, we are truly learning and embracing the present moment. This is the type of stretching that we need to do with our lives each and everyday. Take time out each day to release the habit of always on the go but get into the habit of embracing each present moment.

Stretching out each present moment so that we can experience it fully, 100%. So the next time your mind is wanting to go so many miles per minute. Take a second and just stretch out the present moment. See what you see, feel what you feel, embrace everything that moment has to offer. Just as stretching will help release tension in your body physically it can do the same thing mentally. Mentally it can help relieve tension in your mind and allow you to truly wholeheartedly enjoy the moment. So I invite you to not only stretch physically but let’s practice stretching mentally.

So most of you who know me or follow me on Social Media know that I love meditation and YOGA. Well oddly enough over the past year I have been back and forth with my yoga practice and not consistent like I should be and this has caused me to lose focus, sight towards my goals and towards life itself.

Some of you may be saying so not practicing YOGA made you lose all of that?

Yoga for me is not about just the physical practice but the mental and spiritual practice. Yoga is about taking your body through various poses, breathing through those poses, expanding yourself, growing, powering your way into new opportunities. Well that pretty much describes life too. Going through ups and downs but it is through that journey that we grow into new opportunities and into a new POWER that lies within us.

Physical Practice

I look at this through life itself. There will be times where life will seem and feel tough, physically draining and it will require you to use strength to battle your way through those tough times and you will want to quit, you will want to get out of that position, that pose, that time in your life. It will require inner strength and physical strength to get you through.

Mental and Spiritual Practice

So when I first heard of meditation I was like ummmm yeah I can’t sit here for this amount of time being still and not doing anything. I had to train myself to be still. I soon learn that as I was practicing meditation it was helping with not only to sit still for a certain amount of time but it was teaching me how to breathe through yoga poses, how to breathe through life situations. It help me learn that sometimes you simply have to just BE STILL and breathe through certain situations. The more I began to be still and simply breathe the easier the pose or the craziness of my life became.

31 Days of YOGA

So follow me on this journey of Starting my New Year OFF with Intentions…No I am not big on resolutions this is a journey to help begin my year off with Intentions, Clear Mind, Focus, Determination, Drive and Perseverance to tackle whatever may come my way in 2018….

What will my 31 days look like:

I have devoted to:

Practicing 3 days (minimum) at a Yoga One (with option of trying out a new yoga studio)